Chinese interest in US real estate is growing, CBRE global brokerage chair Steve Siegel tells us; and to cultivate the relationship, he and other founding members of the China-U.S. Real Estate Council (CUREC) recently hosted delegates in New York, visiting iconic sites and meeting with top developers.

Steve tells us some of his fellow founders of CUREC who hosted included CB's Bleecker Totten and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan's Leonard Boxer. Steve says the Chinese asked many questions, from LEED certification to building management and visited developers Larry Silverstein at the WTC and Steve Ross at the Time Warner Center, Citicorp Realty global head Joe Sprouls, ING Real Estate chair Stephen Furnary, and Stroock partners Robert Abrams, Brian Diamond, Ross Moskowitz and Andrew Shapiro. The discussions also allowed U.S. execs to learn about opportunities in China, Steve says.

NAIOP has finally branched out into New York City after years of being affiliated with the suburban New York/Connecticut chapter. We caught up with NYC chapter president-elect Joe Tufariello and president Rick Lechtman, both Ackman-Ziff managing directors, and found out the chapter is focusing on legal and regulatory issues impacting industrial, office, and mixed-use owners and developers, voicing its concerns not only to Albany, but D.C. Next month, five delegates from the chapter are headed to the nation's capital for their annual NAIOP Legislative Retreat.

A benefit of NAIOP, Rick says, is that it has close ties to both the national organization and the suburban New York/Connecticut, Upstate New York and New Jersey chapters. Networking and education also play a big part, and it will hold its kick-off event February 5, when NAIOP VP for government affairs Aquiles Suarez addresses members on President Obama's potential impact on commercial real estate. No word on whether ping-pong tournaments are also in the works, but we're happy to see that Bisnow's not the only office with a table. Although we tend to remove our jackets when playing.

STROOCKIANS

Congrats to Stroock & Stroock & Lavan real estate attorneys Glenn Borin, Joseph Giminaro, Christine Hilla and Manuel Lauredo, who were recently named special counsel of the firm; and Stuart Graiwer, named partner in Los Angeles. We stopped by Stroock's Maiden Lane office last week, where Joe and Glenn, who both work for the firm's Tax Certiorari Group, tell us that they're preparing new NYC tax appeal filings for the '09-'10 tax year. Christine, who specializes in condo and co-op formation and governance, recently returned from an eight-month mobilization tour in East Africa, recalled to active duty by the U.S. Navy. Wow, and thanks.

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